Is it fair to a child, to be the known favorite of a parent?  

  Consider Joseph, a favorite son of Jacob-Israel.  Joseph was given preferential treatment and his ten older brothers were left out.  Joseph “told on” some of his brothers, how loving was that?   His father, Jacob-Israel did not hide the fact that Joseph was his favorite.  He had a special coat of many colors made for Joseph, who wore it everywhere.  Talk about rubbing his brothers the wrong way!  

  He not only paraded his coat but he told them, and his dad, about two dreams he had which ended the same way.  They would all bow down to him one day. 
  His brothers hated him.  One day they were out tending sheep, far away from where they were living.  They saw him coming and talked about killing him.  One brother said, don’t do that, there are deep holes here, let’s put him in one.  This brother wanted to come back and rescue Joseph to make himself look good to his father.   This brother left the group for some reason, and while he was gone, a caravan of Midianites passed close by on the way to Egypt.  The rest of the brothers had a bright idea, sell Joseph as a slave to this caravan.  They wouldn’t kill him but get rid of him, he would go to Egypt and never be heard from again.  

  They sold Joseph and sent him away, they didn’t have his blood on their hands!

  Joseph’s brothers were not patient, not loving, nor kind toward Joseph.  They were jealous! 
  Joseph did brag about his dreams… he was not loving either.  Being the youngest son, and probably a teen-ager, he was a normal teen-ager…  He was the favorite son!

God’s Word ~ Alive!
1 Corinthians 13:4
“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous;
love does not brag and is not arrogant.”

How about you?
Are you lovingly patient?
Are you lovingly kind?
Are you jealous, for any reason?
Do you brag?

Measure yourself with God’s word ~ love in action!

Categories: God's Word ~ Alive!